You Are Not Alone Campaign Launches!

14 February 2017

BC Society of Transition Houses Launches Multi-language Campaign

BC Society of Transition Houses wants every women to know "You are Not Alone"

We are very excited to see the BCSTH "You Are Not Alone" campaign launch, with ads on buses and in women's washrooms across the province. Our TV PSAs will air on Omni TV, Shaw and on CBC, and the radio spots will run on numerous radio stations. It's been a huge collective effort to take a tiny budget and put it into a campaign that we hope will be very far reaching. In vancouver we have billboard size psoters on Transit Shelters, and a VancouverLIve! digital billboard downtown. We could not have done it without our volunteers and allies in media.

This campaign is in five languages: English, Punjabi, Mandarin, Arabic and Farsi. With the help of many people, we will be able to reach out to women who often do not see campaigns in the language they speak. Our hope is that this will be a lifeline to women who need it and may have not known before what transition houses could offer them. “You are not alone” is part of BC Society of Transition Houses' Building Supports project, a multi-language outreach campaign to inform immigrant and refugee women about Transition Houses. Transition Houses offer free support and shelter for women and children who are experiencing violence. There are over 100 transition houses all over BC, so we are glad that our campaign is reaching out to many communities. The number to call on the ad is VictimLinkBC 1 800 563 0808, they offer services in 140 languages.

For this campaign it was important to us to not create something scary or sensational. We didn't want this ad to trigger fear, but to be reassuring to women, to allay their fears, and to support them to "make the call." This was done by showing calm and warm footage of women from many countries together in a transition house setting, preparing a meal, eating together. A women who arrives at the beginning of the ad, later puts her child to bed. All of this conveys to women that this is a clean safe place where they get support to start over. There is both community, and the privacy of their own room. The main message is: "you are not alone, and we are here for you."

For more information about the Building Supports' “You are not alone” campaign and how to access a Transition House, please visit www.bcsth.ca/youarenotalone, where you can also see all of our campaign materials and watch the videos in all languages.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE
WHO ARE PART OF THIS CAMPAIGN, ESPECIALLY ALL OUR ACTORS & TRANSLATORS WHO VOLUNTEERED THEIR TIME